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Habitat fragmentation is a major threat to species survival. As it creates small, isolated, or “patchy” populations; these patches can be difficult to access by the larger group, limiting their ability to be recolonised under natural disaster or disease. As such, fragmented populations are more likely to experience inbreeding. This reduces genetic diversity and further detriments the species resilience to disease and its’ ability to adapt to varied and changing climatic or environmental conditions. Without detection or management, fragmentation can create a negative spiral effect that heightens species extinction risk.
In particular, the fragmentation of Koala (Phascolarctos cinereus) habitat in Australia has increasingly received attention within the public eye following the devastating effects of the 2019-20 bushfires. Koalas are now listed as endangered federally (DCCEW, 2022).
In this research, Hohwieler et al. (2022) assess genetic erosion in Queensland Koalas by assessing physical samples – two generations apart; the latter’s location informed by ALA data of koala sightings. The first-generation samples (y. 2006) were sourced from ear biopsies from wildlife hospitals, with the second-generation (y. 2018) from scats obtained by detection dogs. A comparison of the genetic diversity between these two generations of samples found a decline in diversity that appeared correlated substantially with accelerating anthropogenic fragmenting factors such as urbanisation, traffic increases and habitat loss. Currently, species and ecosystem guidelines are provided by the IUCN in assessing its status. The authors call for stronger genetic guidelines and requirements in these assessments, of which could also provide to be useful in the management and conservation of remaining populations.
